Naruto: Dies Irae
by MonkeyStyle
Summary: AU Sci-fi story. The year is 3030. Konoha is it's own world power and is currently at war with Suna, another world power. To obtain the upperhand, Konoha has been involved in a project that uses biological augmentation to give children psychokinesis.
1. Cultures Weren't Opinions

**Mental Testing Center, Crater Outskirts Lab:**

The subject known as Naruto lay on the testing bench. The chemicals in his brain were being tested for any mental instability that may be present. The subject was still going through testing unlike the others. The others were out fulfilling their duties as operatives. But Naruto was a special case. All of the operatives were special, but Naruto was the most invaluable of them. Naruto had to be kept under special care and was monitored at all times. Naruto was less capable than the others when it came to controlling the stability of his psychokinetic abilities. His power was more dangerous than the others. 

The room was small and its walls were blank sans a large monitor. The only ones in the room were the subject, Naruto and the tester, Dr. Jiraiya. A large machine was attached to the testing bench. The machine was equipped a large, spherical piece that had fit itself around Naruto's head. The monitor on the wall displayed a large table of abbreviations and numbers. Dr. Jiraiya studied the table tensely. Naruto had been a costly thing to handle. He displayed subpar control skill as an ex Deo but the Arcanum in his brain allowed for an intense amount of power which, in the end, became the deciding factor to put Naruto in the Magnum Opus Project. The project's release date had been pushed back numerous times due to the Research Department's inability to find a way to properly stabilize Naruto's psychokinetic abilities and the futile attempts to help Naruto control his own abilities. While the lab has been able to stabilize his power, Naruto has shown little ability to fully control his abilities. The lab has had to compensate with an excessive use of NMH, a drug that is commonly used by the lab to regulate the brainwaves in the ex Deo. Naruto gets at least twelve times the regular dosage for ex Deo because of his lack of control and simply because of the intense brainwave activity due to the Arcanum being in his brain. The delay of the Magnum Opus has put significant pressure on the Research Department and Department Head, Dr. Jiraiya, however they have made notable progress. 

Dr. Jiraiya relaxed himself as the monitor displayed the end results of the mental testing. The doctor sat with a smile on his face as he lifted his tablet from his lap and put the test results on the research group's monitor feed. He again referred back to his tablet to release the machine on Naruto's head. "Alright child, it's about time we leave this place. Go to your quarters and rest. I believe you'll be very busy tomorrow," the doctor told the subject. Naruto nodded and left the testing center alongside the doctor. "Go on and sleep Naruto. We've got work to do tomorrow. And don't forget to take your medicine." he said as Naruto walked down the hall, cameras following his every movement. Jiraiya walked the opposite way, heading for the researchers' meeting room. Upon entering the room, discussion of Naruto's readiness for the Magnum Opus among the research group had come to involve him. 

"Dr. Jiraiya, sir, we need a proper assessment of those results. Is Naruto really ready?" asked one of the scientists in the room.  
>"Of course not! We can't think to release Naruto yet. He's still very unstable. We have to work on him being able stabilize his power on his own,"replied one of the other scientists. <p>

"Agreed. Naruto would only be a danger to his allies if he were out there. He still needs more time"  
>The other scientists joined in the debate while Jiraiya sat still in thought. <p>

"How much time is more time? We've been taking tons of pressure from the higher ups to finish with this. Honestly, I think this is as close as we're going to get." 

"True. We have been unable to meet the previous deadlines, mainly due to Naruto's lack of control once he begins using his psychokinesis. We've succeeded in augmenting his brain, allowing for a less chaotic resonance with the Arcanum, but he still hasn't been able to stabilize himself properly without large quantities of NMH." 

"If only there was a way that we could allow for Naruto to have quick access to his NMH while he's performing field operations. We've already tried capsules but it's not enough for him." 

"This isn't our fault! We shouldn't be forced to rush like this because of the government's greedy war games!" 

As talk continued, Jiraiya sat. Still contemplating on what the proper choice of action may be. Naruto has made much progress and can maintain a controllable state. However, much of this is due to the NMH that he takes. They still had to consider the side effects of NMH and its effects on the subject, which could be potentially dangerous. Jiraiya had been thinking about it for a while, even before the latest test results. His mind has not since then. Finally, he stood up, receiving the whole room's attention. "I have decided on our future course of action. Naruto is ready and will become a full part of the Magnum Opus, however this does not conclude our testing. Naruto still needs to be watched closely. 

"I have decided that we should request that Naruto not be to heavily involved in any battle-related operations for the time being. Not until we've had just a little more time to work on his control." The room was silent for about a minute, then discussion started to stir again. This time it was focused more on Dr. Jiraiya answering questions from the subordinates, but there was no doubt that it has decided that Naruto would be released. 

In Naruto's room, Naruto had just finished injecting himself with his medicine, NMH. He wondered what tomorrow would be like and what he has to do when it comes. And he wondered if he when he would be ready. When would he be able to join the other ex Deo? Naruto's wondering didn't end until he fell asleep.


	2. Power In Your God's Name

**Crater Outskirts Lab:**

Dr. Jiraiya was walking down the white halls of the Outskirts Lab Research Facility with Naruto, the one ex Deo that had been giving everyone working on the Deus Project a hard time. Even the other ex Deo had been having a hard time dealing with Naruto's lack of ability to control his psychokinesis. While most ex Deo were out on field missions, Naruto's "teammates" had to settle with training and and testing. For months, they were told to keep themselves in top shape for when they would be ready to go out as a squad with Naruto. These teammates were known the subjects known as Sasuke and Sakura.

Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura were three very powerful ex Deo. All of them had exceptional skills and talents that set them apart from the rest of the ex Deo. They were watched more carefully than the others, especially Naruto. The development and preparation of the three ex Deo of the Magnum Opus project was almost as much as the rest of the Deus Project. The whole thing was a costly investment made by the government for the sake of winning the war. So far there have been few setbacks regarding the individual ex Deo. The Konoha government believed that with the launch of the Magnum Opus team the war would become more of campaign for conquest of Suna.

Naruto walked alongside Dr. Jiraiya. The entire area had a sort of odor to it, like an overly abundant smell of bleach as if it were refined to be a bearable scent. The entire place was almost dead silent. It was as if the place had been abandoned but someone had been looking over it to make sure it wouldn't all fall to ruin. The truth was that the place was filled with activity. Behind the walls, tests were being done and statistics were being looked at and analyses of data were being collected. One big thing that was going on due to the scheduled release of the Magnum Opus was work on NMH. The Drug and Health Board felt that with Naruto's large NMH intake, they needed to work on a more refined version of the drug so as to put him and the rest of the Magnum Opus to full use.

Naruto didn't know about any of this though. To him most of what happened behind the walls of the Lab meant nothing. He had lived in the Lab his entire life and still had very little of an idea of what went on. Naruto only knew a few things for certain. He knew that he had been getting prepared to be the proper tool for the military to help win the war. He knew that he was going to be grouped with other, similar tools for the same purpose to improve their overall efficiency. And he knew that he was anomaly. He wasn't like the others and had more trouble controlling his abilities. He often worried about his effectiveness. Would he be able to help his squad now that he was finished with the preparation phase. They told him that from today onward that he would be using his skills to aid in operation, but he wasn't very confident in his competence as an ex Deo.

As he and the doctor walked further down the halls he noticed five people standing, waiting for them. There were three adults and two children. He figured the children were ex Deo. There wouldn't be any other reason for children in the Lab. Of the three adults, one was dressed in an army combat uniform but with no equipment on him. The other two were wearing lab coats similar to Dr. Jiraiya's. Naruto assumed that they were the supervisors for the ex Deo with them.

"Dr. Tsunade. Dr. Orochimaru," Dr. Jiraiya politely greeted. "Doctor," Dr. Tsunade greeted back. "Dr. Jiraiya," Dr. Orochimaru greeted with a smile. The man in combat uniform turned to Dr. Jiraiya's direction. "I'm Captain Kakashi Hatake of 7th Infantry Division of the Konoha Army. I've been requ-" the captain stopped as he was interrupted by Dr. Jiraiya. "I know why you're here Captain. Before everything starts, we have a few things to discuss," the doctor told him. "Of course," was Cpt. Hatake's only reply as he and the doctors walked a couple steps away to talk.

Naruto looked at the other ex Deo. They were both barefoot and both had on the standard black t-shirt and pants that every ex Deo wore while in the Lab. One of them had black hair and black eyes. The other had pink hair and green eyes. They both stared down at Naruto, being taller than him. Naruto looked back and forth at the black haired one and the pink haired one. He didn't say a word to either. He simply kept looking at the both of them. Finally one of them opened their mouth to speak. "Could you stop doing that? It's aggravating," spoke the pink haired one. She began to glare at him angrily. Naruto's gaze turned to his feet. "Sorry," he mumbled, apologizing to his future teammate. "Hey, Sakura there's no need to be rude," the black haired one interjected, "This is our first time meeting him. We should make a better first impression than that."  
>"I don't give damn about first impressions Sasuke," Sakura replied. "He's the reason we haven't been able to go out and help. All the extra testing and practice after we were told that we were ready have been because of this kid. And look at him, he doesn't look so impressive to me," she said gesturing at him. "The least he could do is not be weird." Naruto was shocked, but not by the contents of the statement. He had already figured that they had all felt that way, however it hurt to hear them say it.<p>

Sasuke looked at Naruto and then back at Sakura. "He may not look impressive," Sasuke began "but neither do we. We're all just kids so there's no reason to go by looks. Besides if he's going to part of the Magnum Opus, then he HAS to be impressive right?" On the last sentence Sasuke looked towards Naruto, grinning. Naruto looked up and caught Sasuke grinning at him. He felt a bit of relief hearing those words, but it still didn't stop him from thinking that he might still just be hindrance to his team in the long run.

Cpt. Hatake returned to his team of ex Deo as the three scientists walked away. He looked down at the group of children, their eyes all looking up at his face. "Alright Sakura, Sasuke, Naruto, listen. Your supervisors are no longer your supervisors. I'm in charge of you now. You can still talk to your supervisors about whatever problems you may have, even if it's me. I need to tell you all though, you are now part of the military. You will be in combat, REAL combat. You will get hurt and you will see people die. They told me that you all have been trained to handle combat situations but I am telling you that there is no real way to train for combat other than to be in combat. There is no feeling quite like killing a man. There is no feeling quite like watching a comrade die. I am hoping that you all, as ex Deo, can at least act professional on the field. Feel nothing. Do what needs to be done," he finished. "Are there any questions?" No one said a word. "Then come with me," he said as they walked off.


End file.
